


24 Days Til Christmas

by coneofdunshire



Category: Parks and Recreation
Genre: Christmas, Christmas Fluff, F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-12-25
Updated: 2020-12-25
Packaged: 2021-03-10 22:55:29
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,599
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28304904
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/coneofdunshire/pseuds/coneofdunshire
Summary: It’s December 1st and Leslie is baking gingerbread people to help the Parks Department get into the festive spirit. A miscalculation results in an extra batch which she decides to give to Ben.A little festive gift for Parks_&_Poehleroids who is a constant provider of goodness.
Relationships: Leslie Knope/Ben Wyatt
Comments: 2
Kudos: 27





	24 Days Til Christmas

**Author's Note:**

> Happy Holidays to those who wish to celebrate. This is a fluffy little gift for parks_&_poehleroids. She knows why. 
> 
> This is set prior to The Fight. I’ll just pretend that occurred after Christmas for the purposes of this story. 
> 
> I own none of the characters mentioned within nor do I own the show Parks and Recreation. 
> 
> Enjoy.
> 
> 🎄🎄🎄

It was 3am and Leslie was moving furiously around her kitchen, mixing and kneading dough, cutting cookies and icing. She had flour smudged on her cheek and confectioners sugar in her hair and she was starting to get tired from the continuous back and forth of bending down to load and unload the oven but she was almost done. Seven dozen little gingerbread people all either cooling or iced waiting to be packed into the previously white bakery boxes that Leslie had decorated with swirls of glitter to make them look more festive.

It was the 30th of November which meant that there was only twenty-five days until Christmas. Leslie  loved Christmas. Ever since she had been a little girl, it had been her favourite time of the year. She had already finished half of her Christmas shopping - she had ordered Ann the most  _perfect_ gift - and tomorrow she was gifting Ann, Ron, Donna, Tom, April and Andy a dozen gingerbread people each to help them get into the Christmas spirit. Oh and Jerry, she supposed. Because it was the nice thing to do, not because she particularly wanted too.

Turning the timer off she removed the final dozen gingerbread people from the oven and set them on the cake rack to cool until they were ready to ice. Humming Christmas carols to herself she bustled around the cramped space, filling piping bags and moving dishes to make room for the first four boxes she had lovingly decorated.

This year her gingerbread people were dressed up as Pawnee Goddesses to celebrate that they had welcomed the Pawnee Rangers to join them, each cookie adorned with purple shirts and green and gold accents. Each gingerbread wore a tiny purple Santa hat and as she carefully packed the first four boxes Leslie couldn’t help but pipe a blob of icing on to her finger to taste.

“Yummo,” she announced to the empty room. “That is delicious!”

She worked tirelessly for another hour, the first four boxes packed and wrapped with a festive bow with the final three on their way to being finished. She had just tied the last bow when she turned around with a panic to find there was a dozen gingerbread people left on the cooling rack, demanding her attention. Spinning in a tight circle, she counted the number of boxes that sat complete and then ticked off the number of people she had prepared boxes for to ensure she hadn’t missed anyone.

“Ann, Ron, Donna...” She listed off on her fingers one by one. “April, Andy, Tom ... and Jerry. That’s it. That’s seven. I don’t understand.”

Lifting up her notepad she looked at her calculations and noticed that she had accidentally added up her figures incorrectly when making the original batch of dough earlier that night. She furrowed her brow, unsure of what to do now. Her mother was on a cruise and didn’t even like gingerbread people - they were derivative, Marlene said. Of what, exactly, Leslie didn’t know - and Leslie’s neighbours weren’t the type to eat sweets. Shrugging, she picked up her piping bag and began to decorate the extra dozen.

Deciding what to do with them could wait until the morning.

Unless...

Unless she gave them to Ben.

Worrying her bottom lip she paused.

She _liked_ Ben.

Really liked Ben.

She wasn’t sure if he liked her back. She thought he did. He joked with her, a lot, and she thought that might mean he was flirting. He ducked his head sometimes, blushing when she made a point of teasing him or telling him that she thought he had done a good job.

Sometimes she caught him looking at her when he thought she wasn’t looking and whenever she caught his eye he immediately looked away and made a concentrated effort not to look at her again.

Until she caught him staring twenty minutes later.

Yes.

It was decided.

She would give the extra cookies to Ben.

🎄

Leslie sprang out of bed at 6am, sharp. She had had two hours sleep but she wasn’t tired. She was a woman on a mission.

It was the first day of December and she had gifts to deliver.

First, City Hall.

Donning a purple Santa hat Leslie buzzed around the Parks Department, leaving a box of cookies on each person’s desk. It was only when she set Ben’s down on his desk down the hall that she took a step back, glancing at it critically.

She had gingerbread for Ben. Not for Chris. It wasn’t fair to give one a gift and not the other. Not to mention giving Ben a gift while he was her boss probably wasn’t the most appropriate thing. Leslie had heard whispers about how Chris felt about co-workers entering relationships and even though it was only a box of cookies, she couldn’t deny that she would be okay with her friendship with Ben becoming something more. There was a chance that her gift could be interpreted incorrectly. 

Glancing at her watch she made what could only be considered an impulsive decision. Grabbing the cookies off of the desk she raced down the hall toward the car park. If she hurried, she could catch Ben before he left his motel. 

🎄

Ben was awoken by a persistent knocking on his door. He wasn’t sure it was knocking at first; at any given time there were a lot of strange noises at the Pawnee Super Suites and not all of them could be attributed to the raccoons

He hadn’t slept well.

Every time he closed his eyes he was confronted by the image of a certain blonde deputy director whom he knew he should not thinking about. Her smile. Her eyes. The way she made him laugh. The way she made him blush with nothing more than praise for the simplest of tasks. The way she drove him absolutely crazy yet simultaneously proud when she challenged his budgets and cost-cutting methods.

He liked her. More than he should. And he wasn’t allowed to do a damn thing about it.

The banging continued and he dragged himself out of bed, hair mussed and lips cracked and dry.

He opened the door just enough to see a flash of yellow blonde hair that looked strangely familiar.

“Good morning!” The owner of the hair chirped. “Merry Christmas!”

Removing the security chain he pulled open the door the rest of the way, scratching the stubble that had grown on his chin overnight. Leslie stood right outside his door, one hand on her hip that was pushed out to the side, the other thrusting a box into his free hand. She had a smudge of ... icing? on her cheek and he had to clench his hand in a fist on his thigh, least he reach out with a licked thumb to try and remove it.

“Merry Christmas?” He echoed with mild confusion, still half asleep. “It’s... How long was I asleep? Isn’t it ... December 1st?”

“Well... Yes,” Leslie admitted sheepishly. “But it’s the first day of the month of Christmas! It’s only 24 more days until Santa comes to town. You can start opening your advent calendar today! It’s time to celebrate!”

A little more alert now but no less overwhelmed by the explosion of energy on his doorstep at ... he checked his watch, good Lord, seven-thirty in the morning ... Ben accepted the box of cookies and placed them on the table just inside the doorway. “I don’t know too many thirty-five year olds who have advent calendars. But I’m not surprised that you do.”

A little defensively, Leslie crossed her arms over her chest. “Advent calendars are for everyone. You don’t have to be a child to enjoy them.”

“N-n-no,” Ben stammered, afraid he had made her angry. “You don’t. I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to upset you. I think it’s cute. You. You having an advent calendar, I mean. Not you as in you. Wait. That came out wrong. You’re cute.” He was tripping over himself now, trying to dig himself out of the hole he had landed himself in and Leslie giggled despite herself. “I... I’m going to shut up now, before I embarrass myself further,” he muttered, blushing furiously. “Can you tell I haven’t had my coffee yet?”

“No,” Leslie shook her head vigorously. “I think you’re doing just fine.”

They shared a a soft smile before Leslie launched into an explanation about why she was there.

“Every year I make everyone a box of Christmas cookies to give them on December 1st to help them get in the holiday spirit,” she blurted out in one long breath. “I leave it on their desks and we all eat cookies while we decorate the Parks Department. I had one box left over and I thought...” Her cheeks turned pink and she wrung her hands out nervously in front of her. “I thought you might like them but I didn’t want Chris to feel left out so I couldn’t leave them on your desk and I didn’t want him to think that I was giving you cookies because I like you and because of his stupid rule and-“

“Woah woah woah,” Ben cut in, amused and trying to make sense of the word vomit that she had just thrown up in front of him. “Leslie. Slow down. Breathe. Let me see if I have this straight.”

Leslie nodded, forcing herself to squash down the army of butterflies that had suddenly appeared in her stomach when she had noticed just how handsome Ben looked with his bed head and sleepy smile. She didn’t think she had ever seen him unshaven before. It made him look rugged ... and kind of sexy. “Breathing. I’m breathing.”

Ben leaned on the door frame, deep in concentration. “Let me see if I understand. Every December 1st, you give everyone a box of cookies that you stayed up all night making the night before. Somehow, you’ve ended up with an extra box. Which you have so kindly decided you would like to give to me. Am I on the right track so far?”

“Yup,” she nodded, causing the pom pom on her Santa hat to fall in her eyes. “That’s right.”

He reached over and lifted the pom pom out of the way, warm fingers brushing her cheek. “So you come to my hotel at the crack of dawn to give me these no-doubt delicious cookies because you didn’t want Chris to feel left out since he isn’t getting any. Right?”

“Right.” Leslie began to squirm, realising exactly what he was up to. “But...”

“What was that last bit?” He asked her suddenly. “I don’t know if I quite caught it. Could you run it by me again?”

Her cheeks burned and she covered her eyes with her hands. He was going to make her say it. “Ben!”

He stepped into her space, feeling braver than he had in years, and tipped her chin up with his thumb. “I want to hear it from you. Please?”

She shivered as his breath ghosted across her cheek, waiting her out. This wasn’t what she had thought would happen she started banging on his door that morning. She thought he would simply shake his head at her relentless enthusiasm for all things fun and send her on her way. She wasn’t prepared to have a conversation about feelings and what that might mean.

Leslie was frozen in place and Ben took a step back. He had only been teasing her but he was starting to get the feeling that he might had hit a nerve. As much as he hated to say it, maybe Donna was right. Maybe Leslie did like him. He had had a feeling she might, long before Donna had made some smart remark about the two of them staring goofily at each other across the table during meetings, but had immediately dismissed it.

Ben Wyatt never got the girl. It made sense that, silly rules aside, he wouldn’t here, either.

Hoping to snap her out of her trance, Ben reached back and quickly opened the box of gingerbread people, picking one up and taking a giant bite. He chewed it somewhat manically, in a hurry to swallow it down and praise her for what in all honesty, was a fantastic tasting cookie. “Yum. Leslie. This is amazing!”

His diversionary tactic seemed to have worked, Leslie shaken from her revelry. She inhaled sharply, suddenly mustering her courage. “Ben? I like you.  _Like_ , like you. You’re nice and funny and you smell really good and you’re my boss and this is embarrassing,” she babbled nervously more to herself than anyone else. “So I’m going to go to City Hall. Where I work. Which you know! Because you work there too. Um. I’ll see you at work. Okay. Bye!”

She had already spun on her heel and made a dash for the stairs when he spoke. “Leslie? I like you too.  _Like_ , like you.”

The resounding smile on her face was so wide it looked like it hurt. She opened her mouth to speak only for nothing to come out and he had to chuckle. In the handful of months he had been in Pawnee he had previously seen Leslie rendered speechless a grand total of once.

The fact that he was able to do that felt pretty great.

“Oh!” She finally managed. “Um. Cool. That’s ... Cool.”

Sensing she needed time to process this new information Ben took another bite of his cookie and gave her an easy out. “I’m going to take a shower and get ready for the day. I’ll see you at City Hall. Where we both work.”

She rolled her eyes at his teasing and nodded with a grin. “City Hall. Yup. Okay. Bye, Ben.”

“Bye Leslie. Thanks for my gingerbread.”

He watched as she climbed into her car and sat for a few moments, a mix of surprise, hope and excitement on her face. Having feelings for a colleague was less than ideal but whatever. That was a problem for future Ben. He heard Leslie gushing into her phone as he closed the door behind himself and forty minutes later he was walking into City Hall. As always, he detoured unnecessarily past the Parks Department hoping to get a glance of Leslie. The whole gang was there, stringing up tinsel and fairy lights as Ron sat stoically in his office, pretending not to notice. They were laughing and listening to carols and he stopped for a hint of a second to wave at her as she saw him walk by. Shyly, she waved back before turning to Ann who grinned, obviously already up to date with the morning’s events.

Buoyed by her reaction, Ben allowed himself a tiny grin as he entered the office he shared with Chris. Sitting down at his desk he opened his briefcase and laid out his pen and his calculator, reaching into his desk drawer for some note paper. His fingers touched cardboard and he glanced down, puzzled. On top of his pad sat a brightly coloured advent calendar with today’s date peeled open and ready for him to eat.

Leslie. Of course.

Popping the chocolate into his mouth he savoured the taste before closing his desk drawer with a shake of his head. He had no idea how she has managed it but she had managed to somehow plant the calendar before he arrived and weed herself even deeper into his heart.

For the first time in a long time, he might actually enjoy Christmas this year.


End file.
